|
|
|
By Chelsea Whyte
Tucked
away on a residential street near Union Square is Gallery 321 at the
Washington Street Art Center, a multi-purpose facility where artists
keep studio space upstairs and use the gallery downstairs for
exhibitions. Saturday night at Gallery 321 was the opening of a group
show called, "Hey I Know That Guy." Over forty artists contributed
portraits for the exhibition, which was curated by Snow Project.
Snow
Project is a duo of artists, Alex Feinstein and Michael Dacey. They
created Snow Project in January 2009 when they curated their first
group show together at the gallery. Alex is an oil painter and keeps
studio space at the Washington Street Art Center, and Michael does
letterpress production with Repeat Press in Union Square. They rented
the gallery space for the month of January and they've put on two shows
this month at the Washington Street Art Center, with "Hey I Know That
Guy" as their final show.
Saturday's opening reception hosted
a large crowd that filled up the intimate setting, and with DJs keeping
things upbeat, the show eventually turned into a "bit of a dance
party," says Alex with a smile on her face. I spoke with her while she
was straightening up the gallery, righting the pictures on their hooks
after the raucous night. Along with offerings of food and music, the
event also had zines for sale, some by participating artists, and a few
made by Repeat Press with prints of the portraits on the walls.
|
With
nearly 100 pieces in the show, including drawings, paintings,
photographs, collages, and mixed media pieces, Alex says, "The more the
merrier. It's always nice to have so many artists send work for these
shows. It's great to have a variety of artists from outside the
[Washington Street Art] Center. It gives the show a lot of interest."
Alex says that collaborative shows like this fill a need in Somerville
for artists to show their work collaboratively.
Taking in the
portraits, you start to wonder who these people are, if they're made up
or if they sat for this painting or that drawing. The placement of a
charcoal drawing of a man in a military suit next to a painting of a
guy playing a frying pan like a banjo makes them seem like they could
be anybody, a neighbor or a friend. Walking through the space, looking
at one of these portraits, you might almost think, "Hey, I know that
guy."
Reader Comments